Pull-type windrower

ABSTRACT

A pull-type swather or windrower which can be used either singly or in a duplex or tandem arrangement can be adjusted from a working position to a transport position by pivoting the hitch through 90° and by unlocking the wheels so they turn through 90° to move the swather at right angles to its working direction. The swather is mounted on two wheels inwardly of the ends of the swather and rearwardly of the drapers with the wheel remote from the hitch movable to a position forwardly of its working position so as to lie under the drapers and to balance the center of gravity so that the swather can be supported solely by the two wheels in the transport position. A rear or duplex swather can be attached to the front swather by a duplex hitch which provides steering movements of the rear swather in a direction opposite to the steering movements of the front swather so that the former properly tracks the latter in echelon relationship. The steering movements are obtained by a spring biassing the rear swather in one direction and a flexible linkage arrangement which controls the amount of movement of the rear swather. The intermediate hitch can be latched to the front swather to take up a transport position.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to a pull-type swather or windrower and isparticularly applicable for use in swathers which can be used in duplex,that is one swather can be pulled in echelon relationship relative tothe first.

In recent years there has been growing pressure particularly from thefarmers in the large grain growing areas to increase the size andworking width of farm implements so as to reduce the number of passagesacross the land by the tractor or implement. This has been of particularimportance in swathers and attempts have been made to couple swatherstogether for use in tandem or in duplex where one moves across the landforwardly and to one side of the second under motive power from the sametractor.

This has caused a number of problems in that firstly, such tandem orduplex arrangements are very difficult to transport from one workinglocation to another. Secondly, the actual coupling between the swathershas been unable to produce a sufficiently manoeuverable machine to alloweffective commercial use.

The first problem is not wholly applicable to duplex swathers in that,in all cases, the swather must be transportable by road or highway fromone working location to another and normally this is achieved bypivoting or moving the hitch and turning or moving the wheels so thatthe tractor tows the swather at right angles to its normal workingdirection. Various proposals for the movement of the hitch and for themovement of the wheels to achieve this position have been made, but nonehave been fully satisfactory from the opposing viewpoints of simplicityand cheapness of manufacture on the one hand and the stability of thetowed swather on the other hand.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is one object of the present invention therefor to provide a swatherin which the movement from the working position to a transport positioncan be achieved very simply and by inexpensive components and yetprovides a very stable and narrow transport width.

The invention provides, according to a first aspect, therefore apull-type swather comprising a hitch for attachment to a pullingvehicle, a frame attached to said hitch and supporting cutting meansextending across the width of the frame for cutting a standing crop andconveying means for collecting the cut crop from the cutting means intoa swath for ejection from the swather, the hitch being adjustable from aworking position in which it pulls the frame in a working directiontransverse to the width of the frame to a transport position in which itpulls the frame substantially at right angles to the working direction,a pair of ground wheels for supporting the frame for movement across theground and means for raising the frame sufficiently for one of theground wheels to be moved forwardly relative to the working direction soas to underlie the conveying means.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a coupling between afirst swather and a second swather arranged in echelon which provides avery manoeuverable machine while moving in the working direction and amachine which can be readily transferred into the transport position.

According to a second aspect of the invention, therefore, there isprovided a duplex pull-type swather arrangement including a firstswather and a second swather, hitch means for communicating drivingforce from the first swather to the second swather such that the secondswather follows the first in echelon relationship in a working directionand means for pivotally coupling the hitch means to both the firstswather and the second swather.

It is one advantage of the first aspect of the invention that the twowheels which normally are in the working position, sit inward of theends of the frame and behind the drapers and can be used to provide astable support for the swather when moving in the transport directionwithout the addition of wheels necessary only in the transport position.Thus, in one embodiment only, two wheels are necessary on the swather.In a second embodiment used as a trailing or duplex swather, a thirdwheel is used to support the hitch, but effectively the swather issupported again under the two rear wheels.

The second aspect of the invention enables the second or duplex swatherto be steered relative to the first. This can be achieved by detectingchanges in angle between the hitch means and the first swather and independence upon these changes, steering the second swather so as tochange the angle between it and the hitch means. This, in accordancewith an advantageous embodiment, is achieved by biassing the secondswather in one direction and then pulling it back in the other directionin accordance with movement of a linkage attached between the hitchmeans and the rear of the first swather.

In addition, the pivotally mounted hitch means allows the hitch to turnrelative to both swathers so that both swathers can be converted intothe transport position quickly and easily and the hitch means latched tothe front swather so as to prevent pivotal movement in the transportmode.

With the foregoing in view, and other advantages as will become apparentto those skilled in the art to which this invention relates as thisspecification proceeds, the invention is herein described by referenceto the accompanying drawings forming a part hereof, which includes adescription of the best mode known to the applicant and of the preferredtypical embodiment of the principles of the present invention, in which:

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view of a single pull-type swather attachedto a tractor and positioned in the transport mode.

FIG. 2 is a view similar to that of FIG. 1 showing the swather in thefield or working position.

FIG. 2A is a plan view of the locking mechanism of the left-hand wheelin the locked position and in the field position of FIG. 2.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of a detail of FIG. 2 showing the right hand wheelin field position.

FIG. 4 is an elevational view of the right hand wheel in the fieldposition.

FIG. 5 is a plan view similar to that of FIG. 3 showing the right handwheel in the transport position.

FIG. 6 is an elevational view similar to that of FIG. 4 showing theright hand wheel in the transport position.

FIG. 7 is a cross sectional view of the telescoping hitch arm 11 of FIG.1.

FIGS. 8 and 8A together form a plan view of a hitch for coupling asecond swather to the rear of the first in a tandem or duplexarrangement.

FIG. 9 is a schematic plan view of the swathers and hitch of FIG. 8showing a steering movement of the duplex swather arrangement to theleft.

FIG. 10 is a plan view similar to that of FIG. 9 showing the duplexswather arrangement in a steering movement to the right.

FIG. 11 is a plan view similar to that of FIGS. 9 and 10 showing theduplex swather arrangement in transport position.

In the drawings like characters of reference indicate correspondingparts in the different figures.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Turning firstly to FIGS. 1 through 7 which show the hitch and supportingwheel arrangements of a single swather, the construction of the swatherwill not be described in detail since it is of a conventionalarrangement, except to state that the swather comprises a frame 20 whichis substantially rigidly supported from a main support beam 21 ofgenerally circular cross section. The frame in turn supports a bladeschematically indicated at 22 and a pair of drapers 23 which, inconventional manner, transport the cut crop inwardly toward a centreopening 24 through which it is deposited to form a swath behind theswather indicated in FIG. 2 at 25.

As shown again schematically in FIGS. 4 and 6, the drapers 23 arepositioned rearwardly from the blade 22. The frame 20 is pivotallymounted relative to the main support beam 21 and can be raised andlowered by a piston and cylinder arrangement 26 to adjust the height ofthe blade 22 relative to the main support beam 21 and therefore relativeto the ground. The frame may also be supported relative to the supportbeam 21 by a spring (not shown) to allow the blade and frame to liftfrom the ground when the blade contacts a rigid object and to return tothe ground to continue cutting the crop after the object.

The frame terminates in a transverse forward bar 27 which is coupled tothe remainder of the frame in a manner which need not be described indetail. The bar 27 is coupled to the rear of a tractcor by a hitchgenerally indicated at 10. The hitch includes two rearwardly extendinghitch arms 11 and 12 coupled at a common hitch point 13 to the rear ofthe tractor. The hitch arms 11 and 12 diverge at a shallow angle. Therear end of each of the hitch arms 11 and 12 is connected to atransverse bar 14 by pivotal couplings 15 and 16 respectively. Thetransverse bar 14 is in turn coupled to the front apex of a triangularhitch frame comprising struts 17, 18 with a further strut 19 acting tolocate the position of the transverse bar 14 relative to the struts 17,18.

As shown in FIG. 2, in the working position, the hitch liessubstantially parallel to the working direction and substantiallydirectly behind the tractor with the transverse bar 14 at right anglesto the working direction.

In order to move the hitch 10 into the transport position shown in FIG.1, the hitch arm 11 is telescopically extendable so that both the arms11 and 12 pivot about the pins 15, 16 on the transverse bar 14 and arethen locked into position by the locking of the arm 11 in the extendedposition. The arm 11 is shown in more detail in FIG. 7. The armcomprises an outer rectangular sleeve member 110 and an inner slidingmember 111 which can fit within the sleeve 110 for sliding movementbetween a retracted and an extended position. The front end of thesleeve member 110 includes a pair of hitch lugs 112 for coupling to thehitch arm 12 to allow the pivotal movement necessary to accommodate thereduction in the angle between the arms 11 and 12 in movement from thefield position to the transport position.

The sleeve 110 carries a latch mechanism 113 including a handle 114which can be pivoted upwardly against the force of a spring 115 toretract pin 116 from an opening through the sleeve member through whichthe pin 116 projects. The pin 116 has a flat 117 on one side.

The inner sliding member 111 also includes a pair of hitch lugs 118 atthe rear end for attachment to the transverse bar 14. The telescopinghitch is locked in the field position by engagement of the pin 116 witha block 119 positioned in an opening in the upper face of the innerportion 111. The block 119 may be bolted to the side of the portion 111so that the bolts 129 will break under an excessive load. The handle 114is turned to position the flat 117 of the pin 116 against the block 119.In order to move to the transport position, the handle 114 is used toraise the pin 116 and rotate through 180°. In that position, it bears ontop of the block 119 and allows the inner member to be extended andlocked in the transport position shown in FIG. 7. In order to controlthe sliding movement, plates 120 are provided on the bottom of the innermember 111 and a stop plate 121 is positioned at the end of the sleeve110 to prevent the inner member 111 from sliding completely out of thesleeve 110.

Turning now to the details of the supporting wheels, both wheels aremounted on horizontal axles for rotation about the axle with the axle inturn mounted for pivotal movement about a substantially vertical axis sothe axle can be moved to move the wheel with the wheels in the transportposition shown in FIG. 1 and in the field position shown in FIG. 2. Thepivotal movement about the substantially vertical axis can be used toallow a castor movement about a castor sleeve 30 (FIGS. 4 and 2A).

The castor sleeve 30 for the left hand wheel is positioned substantiallydirectly beneath the tubular main support beam 21 and the sleeve for theright hand wheel is positioned forwardly of the beam 21 on a beam 210supported by the main beam 21.

The left hand wheel includes a locking mechanism which is shown inschematic form in FIGS. 1 and 2 and in enlarged detail in FIG. 2A. Thisincludes a plate 321 attached to the castor sleeve 30 which includes anotch 322 at one part of its periphery for cooperation with a pin 323which is biased forwardly into the notch by a spring 324. A handle 325is attached to the pin 323 and cooperates with a housing 326 so thatwhen pivoted through 90° to extend directly outwardly, the handle 325draws the pin 323 out of contact with the notch 322. The position ofengagement where the handle lies at right angles to the pin is shown inFIGS. 2 and 2A and in this position, the pin 323 locks the plate 321against rotational movement thus preventing rotational movement of theaxle about the substantially vertical pivot axis and locks the wheel inthe field position.

Steering adjustment of the left hand wheel can be obtained by moving thehousing 326 relative to a support plate 327 to adjust the angle of thepin 323 relative to the sleeve 30.

When the handle 325 is operated to release the plate 321, the left handwheel is free to castor to take up the transport direction as shown inFIG. 1.

The right hand wheel is shown in more detail in FIGS. 3 through 6 and inthis case instead of the axle 40 supporting the wheel 41 being directlycoupled beneath the sleeve 30 for castoring action around the sleeve 30,the axle 40 in this case is offset relative to the sleeve 30 so thatrotation of the axle about the axis of the sleeve 30 causes a movementof the wheel transversely to the position shown in FIGS. 1 and 5. Inthis regard, the axle 40 is supported upon a lever mechanism comprisinga first support bar 41 and a second support bar 42 both of which arecoupled to a plate 43 which pivots about the axis of the sleeve 30 andlies in a plane substantially at right angles to the axis. The movementof the plate 43 about the sleeve 30 is controlled by a piston/cylinder44 which is mounted at one end by a coupling 45 to the main support beam21 and at the other end, through a loose coupling to the plate 43.

In a field position of the right hand wheel shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, theright hand wheel is free to castor and hence tgurns in a clockwisedirection as shown in FIG. 3 until the collar 441 on the piston rod 442contacts the end 443 of the cylinder. In this position the frame issubstantially completely supported by the left hand wheel and the righthand wheel, both of which remain effectively stationary in the workingdirection and both of which are arranged inboard of the ends of theframe and substantially rearwardly of the drapers 23.

When it is intended to move into the transport position, the left handwheel is unlocked by operation of the handle 325 and the piston 44 isoperated to rotate the right hand wheel about the vertical axis to moveit into the forward position beneath the draper shown in FIGS. 1, 5 and6. In order to accommodate this movement, the drapers 23, blade 22 andframe are raised relative to the main support beam 21 by thepiston/cylinder 26. As opposed to conventional swathers of this type,the lifting of the frame is arranged to provide sufficient movement toaccommodate the movement of the wheel 401 into the transport positionshown.

The right hand wheel 401 is then locked into the transport position bylocking of the plate 43 in the rotated position shown in FIG. 5 by a lug46 which is coupled to a frame member 47 by an adjustable boltarrangement 48. A lock pin 49 can simply be removably positioned tocooperate with openings in the plate 43 and the lug 46 to retain theplate 43 in a locked position controlled by the adjustment of the bolt48.

The adjustment of the bolt 48 controls the angle of the wheel 401relative to the rear of the frame in the transport position thuscontrolling the angle of the frame as it moves in the transportdirection. In the transport position, the front wheel or left hand wheelis free to castor so as to accommodate steering movements of the framewhile the rear or right hand wheel follows the movement of the tractor.The front and rear wheels are spaced either side of the centre ofgravity of the frame and either side of the line running directlybackwardly from the tractor through the frame so as to provide a stablesupport for the frame as it moves in the transport direction.

Turning now to FIGS. 8 through 11, there is shown a duplex swatherarrangement in which both of the swathers include the wheel mountingarrangement previously described and the front swather includes a hitch10 as previously described. The front swather is generally indicated at50 and the second swather is generally indicated at 51 with the swathersbeing substantially of the same construction except that the rearswather 51 is modified to incorporate a supporting front wheel 52. Thefront wheel is mounted upon a frame member 53 and is attached thereto bya castoring mechanism of conventional arrangement.

The frame of the rear swather 51 is attached to the frame member 53 by alever mechanism generally indicated at 54 which allows the front of therear swather to be raised and lowered in a similar manner to thatpreviously described in relation to the piston/cylinder 26.

Thus there is provided a cylinder/piston 541 and a spring 542 whichcontrol the height of the blade and drapers.

The front and rear swathers 50, 51 are coupled by a duplex hitcharrangement generally indicated at 55 which is shown in more detail inFIGS. 8 and 8A. The hitch communicates pulling force from a bracket 550attached to the front swather which provides a two directional pivotalcoupling relative to a substantially triangular frame section 551. Theframe section 551 is formed of a box section and is connected by bolts552 to a further substantially triangular section 553 which extendsrearwardly and to one side of the section 551. The section 553 iscoupled to the frame member 53 by a pivotal coupling 554 which allowspivotal movement about both a horizontal axis to accommodate changes inheight between the front and rear swathers and also about a verticalaxis to accommodate steering movements of the rear swather relative tothe hitch 55.

The hitch 55 therefore provides a rigid linkage for communicting pullingforces from the front swather to the rear swather but is pivotallycoupled to both the front swather and the rear swather to allow relativemovement therebetween in a steering and height adjustment direction.

The face of the hitch section 553 adjacent the frame member 53 isinclined outwardly and rearwardly and the cooperating face of the framemember 53 is inclined inwardly and rearwardly so as to provide faceswhich are substantially parallel. A strong compression spring 56 iscoupled between the faces on respective lugs 561, 562 so as to bias theframe member 53 to move or pivot in a clockwise direction relative tothe pivot 554. Thus, the front of the rear swather is biased to asteering movement toward the right. This bias is also applied to thewheel 52 by a spring and linkage 532. This steering movement isconstrained by a linkage which passes through the interior of the hitch55, the linkage indicated genereally at 60.

The linkage 60 includes a first tension bar 61 attached to the framemember 53 forwardly of the spring 56. The tension bar is coupled to apivot plate 62 at one corner thereof with the pivot plate 62 pivotedinside the hitch member 551 on a pin 63. A rod 64 running substantiallyalong the length of the hitch section 551 is coupled to a third cornerof the plate 62 with the fourth corner including a stop 65 for engaginga spring mounted stop plate 66 to prevent excessive movement of theplate 62. The rod 64 is, in turn, coupled to a chain 67 attached to therear of the front swather at a position spaced from the coupling 550.

The movement of the rod 64 is controlled by a bar 68 so that it can movebackwards and forwards along the length of the section 551 to controlthe movement of the plate 62 and thence the tension bar 61.

The length of the chain 67 is chosen or adjusted such that with thefront swather moving straight forward in the working direction behindthe tractor, the hitch 55 extends rearwardly and sidewardly relative tothe front swather to attach to the rear swather at the front left handcorner thereof whereby the rear swather follows the front swather inechelon arrangement.

The chain thus is taut in this position so that it holds the tension bar61 to prevent the spring 56 from biassing the rear swather to steer tothe right so the rear swather follows in the working direction.

It will be appreciated that should the front swather turn to the left asshown in FIG. 9, the distance between the connection point 68 of thechain 67 on the rear of the front swather and the end of the hitch 55will reduce thus allowing the rod 64 to move rearwardly in the hitch 55to allow the tension bar 61 to release the frame member 53 to move tothe right under the bias from the spring 56. Thus, a change of angle ofthe hitch 55 relative to the front swather is detected by the chain 67and communicated to the rear swather which moves through a similarchange in angle to steer to the right. The result of the steeringmovements is shown in FIG. 9 and it will be seen that the rear swatherthen properly tracks the front swather to maintain the correct echelonrelationship and to avoid twisting or sideways forces on the rearswather.

Similarly, as shown in FIG. 10, as the front swather steers to theright, more chain 67 is drawn to accommodate the increase in anglebetween the hitch 55 and the rear of the front swather thus reducing theangle between the hitch and the rear swather so that the rear swathersteers to the left as shown.

These steering movements provide a very highly manoeuverable duplexswather arrangement which can turn tight corners while avoidingexcessive sideways forces and avoiding areas of crop remaining uncut.This manoeuverability allows the duplex swather to avoid obstacles bysuitable steering movements controlled by the direction of the tractor.

Turning now to FIG. 11, movement of the swathers into the transportposition can be achieved by unlocking the ground wheels as previouslydescribed and by adjusting the front hitch as previously described. Theintermediate or duplex hitch is then turned as shown in FIG. 11 and islatched to the rear of the front swather by a latch 70 schematicallyindicated in the Figure and shown in more detail in FIG. 8.

The latch is operated by a lever 71, omitted from FIG. 8 for the sake ofclarity, which is manually operated to move a latch finger to engage asuitable loop 72 provided at the rear of the front swather. Thus, thehitch 55 is locked into position extending substantially rearwardly ofthe front swather. It will be noted that the length of the front section551 of the hitch 55 is chosen such that it extends substantially halfthe way along the front swather and terminates adjacent one end of thefront swather whereby the rear section 552 extends around the end of thefront swather to connect with the rear swather at the coupling 554 aspreviously described.

The spring 56 in this position is substantially fully extended and henceprovides little force between the hitch 55 and the rear swather or infact it can be disconnected.

The front wheel 52 of the rear swather is released to castor andtherefore turns in the transport direction along with the wheels 40 aspreviously described. The release of the front wheel is obtained by alinkage generally indicated at 521 which is operated by raising of theswather by operation of the cylinder 541. Thus, the duplex swatherarrangement takes up the transport position which is stable based uponthe movement of the wheels 40 as previously described with the wheel 52supporting the front edge of the hitch 55 and the front frame member 53of the rear swather 51.

Turning again to FIGS. 9 and 10, the duplex swather can be used inalternative arrangements to provide four different swath arrangements.In the first arrangement shown in FIG. 9, the drapers 23 are arrangedconventionally so that each of the two parts of the swather forms aseparate swath 25 centrally of the drapers 23. In a second arrangementshown in FIG. 10, a pivotally mounted centre section 231 is arrangedover the central opening of the rear swather 51 and an intermediatelength conveyor 80 is positioned at the end of the rear swather 51 totransport the swath to a position adjacent the swath 25 from the firstor front swather 50. Thus, the swath from the rear swather indicated at251 lies immediately adjacent or side by side relative to the swath fromthe front swather 50.

In alternative arrangements (not shown) a long conveyor can be used inplace of the conveyor 80 in order to deposit the swath 251 directly ontop of the swath 25. In a yet further arrangement (not shown) a shortconveyor is used in replacement of the conveyor 80 to place the swath251 adjacent to but spaced from the swath 25. These swath arrangementscan be selected as required by the farmer to accommodate the combineharvester or baling equipment which he proposes to use.

Since various modifications can be made in my invention as hereinabovedescribed, and many apparently widely different embodiments of same madewithin the spirit and scope of the claims without departing from suchspirit and scope, it is intended that all matter contained in theaccompanying specification shall be interpreted as illustrative only andnot in a limiting sense.

I claim:
 1. A pull-type swather comprising a hitch for attachment to apulling vehicle, a frame attached to said hitch, cutting means supportedupon and extending across the width of the frame for cutting a standingcrop, conveying means supported upon the frame for collecting the cutcrop from the cutting means into a swath for ejection from the swather,a pair of ground wheels for supporting the frame for movement across theground, means for raising and lowering said cutting means and saidconveying means relative to said ground wheels to adjust the workingheight thereof relative to the ground, the hitch being adjustable from aworking position in which it pulls the frame in a working directiontransverse to the width of the frame to a transport position in which ispulls the frame substantially at right angles to the working direction,and strut means mounting one of said ground wheels, said strut meansbeing rotatable about an axis offset to one side of said one groundwheel, said raising and lowering means being arranged to raise saidconveying means to a sufficient height and said strut means beingarranged such that said one ground wheel can pivot about said offsetaxis to a transport position directly underlying said conveying means.2. A swather according to claim 1 wherein the hitch comprises a firstrearwardly extending arm, a second rearwardly extending arm connected toa common hitch point for attachment to the pulling vehicle and extendingapart at an angle for connection at a rearward end thereof to atransverse arm coupled to the frame, the first arm being pivotallyconnected to the transverse arm and the second arm being extendable inlength whereby the common hitch point can be pivoted relative to thetransverse arm.
 3. A swather according to claim 1 wherein said one ofthe ground wheels comprises the ground wheel furthest from the hitch. 4.A swather according to claim 1 wherein the axles of both ground wheelsare pivotal about respective substantially vertical axes.
 5. A swatheraccording to claim 4 including means for locking both wheels againstpivotal movement in said working position.
 6. A swather according toclaim 1 wherein said one of the ground wheels includes an axle andwherein said mounting means provides pivotal movement of said axle abouta substantially vertical axis offset from said ground wheel and whereinthere is provided means for locking said mounting means against pivotalmovement in said transport position.
 7. A pull-type swather comprising ahitch for attachment to a pulling vehicle, a frame attached to saidhitch, cutting means supported upon and extending across the width ofthe frame for cutting a standing crop, conveying means supported on theframe rearwardly of the cutting means for collecting the cut crop fromthe cutting means into a swath for ejection from the swather, a firstand a second ground wheel for supporting the frame for movement acrossthe ground and spaced laterally of the frame such that the second liesfurther from the hitch than the first, means for raising and loweringsaid cutting means and said conveying means relative to said groundwheels to adjust the working height thereof relative to the ground, thehitch being adjustable from a working position in which it pulls theframe in a working direction transverse to the width of the frame to atransport position in which it pulls the frame substantially at rightangles to the working direction, means mounting said first ground wheelfor pivotal movement about a substantially vertical axis passingtherethrough so that the wheel is positioned rearwardly of the conveyormeans in said working position and turns from a direction aligned withsaid working direction to a direction aligned with said transportdirection and strut means mounting said second ground wheel, said strutmeans being rotatable relative to the frame about an axis offset to aside of said second ground wheel closer to said hitch, said raising andlowering means being arranged to raise said conveying means to asufficient height and said strut means being arranged such that saidsecond ground wheel can pivot about said offset axis from a workingposition in which it lies rearward of the conveying means to a transportposition in which it is moved to a position directly underlying saidconveying means and closer to said hitch.